With all due respect, I don't believe it ignores it; see for example this snippet:
In my experience, even the best design professionals
typically have an inadequate knowledge of all of the
accessibility standards. And local building official
approvals provide no protection against accessibility
violations.
If you've worked on large construction projects, you'll find that municipalities vary greatly in what they decide to enforce and how they decide to enforce it. It's not always predictable up front, and in this case as in many others, it changes over time [1]:
The Dojo, which is used as an office and collaborative
space by 300 programmers who pay a $100 monthly fee, has
been open since late 2009. Until last fall, Dojo board
members say city officials had been relatively permissive
as the Dojo operated without building permits in an
industrial garage space, and was welcomed by some
officials as a sort of incubator for tech start-ups.
The key to avoiding regulation is to avoid attention from city government:
"We had a small celebration, but it wasn't a big, crazy
celebration" Weekly said. "That kind of pushed them over
the line. They were starting to see us as a commercial
event space."
..
The city also began pressing for more codes to be met.
Weekly rattled off what appear to be significant costs:
$150,000 to make three bathrooms compliant with the
American Disabilities Act, $130,000 for fire sprinklers,
and potentially thousands more in building permit fees and
other improvements.
The Dojo also lacks a required fire alarm, which could
cost $15,000. Without one, city officials say they'll seek
the closure of the Dojo by the end of the month.
"They want us to commit to a traffic study, build concrete
walls around the dumpster and have the landlord re-slope
the driveways," Weekly said.
City staff said that it hasn't been determined whether the
building has adequate exits and parking.
City officials say code enforcement officers saw the Dojo
advertising events online that would exceed the Dojo's 49-
person occupancy limit for a building without fire
sprinklers.
And this is all imposed with no regard for costs:
The Dojo has had to cancel numerous money-raising events
and classes that easily attract more than 49 people. "Our
membership is down considerably" without the classes, said
Weekly. "We lost dozens of members. We had classes on
machine learning and Android programming."
Also cancelled was a job fair in which employers and job
seekers switch roles: programmers sit at tables presenting
their work to potential employers who make the rounds.
"We've gotten dozens of people hired from these," Weekly
said. The event brings in up to 150 people and "raises a
good chunk of change. But we can't run it this year and
these people can't get hired."
Again, it always starts with reasonable sounding stuff (fire alarms) and then you start getting Mountain View asking you to burn money on traffic studies and building walls around the dumpster.
Weekly said the Dojo has enough money -- $15,000 -- to put in fire alarms.
"We just wish they would take into account the reality of
the situation," he said. "What I don't think they realize
is this is a volunteer-run nonprofit. We don't have
millions of dollars coming out of our ears because we are
affiliated with numerous computer-related things."
